British Open 2012: Early Chatter Surrounding Golf's Top Contenders

Open Championship week is now upon us.

While the main story starting the week may be the overly rainy weather affecting the Blackpool region of England, by next Sunday night, the story will be all about the man who earned the title “Champion Golfer of the Year.”

Royal Lytham and St. Annes will be a similar test of length and accuracy that we saw a few weeks ago at Olympic Club for the US Open.

Two major differences remain, however, between our national championship and Europe’s championship: the style of golf to be played—American and pure links—and the sharpness of the British press that covers golf’s biggest international event. For a lack of a better word, relentless comes to mind.

Here is a sample of the press buzz, mostly from overseas, as golf’s oldest major comes into view on the field’s favorites.

Jason Dufner

Not one story.

As this article was put together Sunday night, not one linked story came up to either preview his chances or get a quote from him about the whole links experience.

For a guy who has won twice this season on the PGA Tour, the lack of recognition of his talent and the way he could literally sneak through the back door and win must amaze even him.

Justin Rose

Rose is another story.

He is trying to be the first Englishman to win the Open Championship since Sir Nick Faldo won his third at Muirfield in 1992.

The Telegraph previews Rose getting coaching advice from a North Carolinian on how to improve his putting.

If Rose can get some confidence on the greens to go with his complete tee-to-green excellence, this could be a magic week for Justin.

Lee Westwood

Now saddled with Colin Montgomerie’s reputation of never being able to pull out the big win, the Daily Star gives us a softball article on how Westwood is not worried about his chances going in.

This, of course, will be followed by several thousand words in print and online attacking Westwood for not winning next Sunday night and each day before that he is not on top of the leaderboard.

Westwood played the US Open well. He has a right not to be too stressed starting the week.

Seeing Westwood’s name carved into the Claret Jug come Sunday would not surprise. Having his name carved in right under his buddy Darren Clarke’s would be even sweeter.

Rory McIlroy

On the other end of the age spectrum, McIlroy does not seem to be concerned by the increased sense of expectations put on him by the press.

The Telegraph profiles a seemingly relaxed McIlroy just wanting to take in the moment.

It can be easy to forget that Rory is all of 23 and is a sure bet to win at least one of these in his future. With the added scrutiny of his game and public relationship with women’s tennis star Caroline Wozniacki—some even going so far to blame her disappointing Wimbledon on him—just getting out on the course must be a relief for him.

Bubba Watson

Watson chatted with the Augusta Chronicle about his chances and the state of his game.

Bubba seems to really think that the creativity needed to navigate this course fits his game well.

If that is his mindset, then he really could do well this week. For such a long hitter, his short game touch and feel is truly remarkable.

The question with Bubba is going to be if he can put the driver away. 'Bubba Golf' will not get it done this week, especially with everything being so wet.

Phil Mickelson

After a shaky first round in Scotland, Phil played well Friday and Saturday to give himself a shot of winning the Scottish Open.

A final round of 74 was not what he needed to win, but a tie for 16^th is not that bad either.

Mickelson tells the Daily Mail how much he is looking forward to the bad weather and the different style of golf he needs to play to win his first Open Championship.

Whether or not Mickelson wins this week fully depends on him keeping his missed drives out of the hay fields that line the course. As creative as he is, if the rough continuously grabs the shaft of the club, then he will not be able to fully control where his approach shots go.

Luke Donald

The Daily Mail talks about what others are openly talking about with each other: Is this the week that the world’s No. 1 golfer finally earns that ranking with a major victory?

Olympic Club was really set up for Donald’s accurate game, but Luke shot his way out of not only the championship but the cut as well after a disastrous first round.

As with all of the United Kingdom’s great golfers, the burden of winning the Open Championship is greater than what American golfers face at the US Open.

Donald leads both the PGA Tour and European PGA Tour in earnings. He cannot fall back on McIlroy’s youth or Westwood’s experiences to hide this time. Of the 156 players teeing it up Thursday, Donald is under the most pressure and the most scrutiny. He simply cannot play as poorly as he did in San Francisco.

Tiger Woods

After saying publicly last week that the Open Championship was his favorite major, Woods was amazed during a practice round Sunday at just how thick the rough was at Royal Lytham and St. Annes.

In the weeks that Tiger has played well this year, including the first two days at Olympic Club, Tiger’s preparation for each round was front and center.

His last Open Championship came at a baked-out Hoylake in Liverpool, where he used driver all of twice in 2006. Perhaps, on a waterlogged course such as this one, along with playing to just a par-70, Woods will use the same tactics this week and rely on his longer irons from the fairway as opposed to his shorter irons out of the lush rough.

While the public pressure on Donald is tremendous, Woods internal pressure to silence the naysayers and his own doubts will be just as fierce.